General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted on Friday that it would be impossible for Ukrainian forces to “eject” Russian soldiers from all of Ukraine this year.
From a military perspective, I stand by my earlier statement that it will be extremely challenging to remove Russian soldiers from the entirety of occupied or Russian-controlled Ukraine this year. “It’s very, very tough,” Milley said in Germany. “That doesn’t mean it can’t happen or won’t happen.
He predicted that “continuous defense stabilized at the front” is possible.
However, he once more cast doubt on the prospect of a military triumph for Ukraine.
“But I do think at the end of the day this conflict, like many wars in the past, will conclude at some form of the negotiation table,” he added, adding that the time will be up to the leaders of Russia and Ukraine.
Milley made these remarks at a news conference following the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting, which was attended by roughly 50 defense chiefs from countries that support Ukraine. The group’s seventh gathering was last Friday.
While this was going on, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the United States would stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes.” That announcement was followed by a $2.5 billion military aid package for Ukraine.
Since January 2021, the United States has given the Ukrainian armed forces approximately $100 billion in aid, $27.5 billion of which was spent on military equipment, much of which came from U.S. stockpiles.
In November, the New York Times reported that Milley argued internally that the Ukrainians should try to cement their gains at the bargaining table because they have made as many as they can on the battlefield before winter. Still, other Biden administration officials disagreed and said it was not time for negotiations.
To clarify his comments, Milley later repeated the administration’s point that the United States will “continue to help Ukraine as long as it takes to keep them free.”
However, on Friday, Milley said that it is “very, very conceivable” for Ukraine to launch an attack against Russian soldiers to “liberate as much Ukrainian land as possible” but that there is a “limited window of time” to equip and train Ukrainian forces.
They need to be trained and then paired with the appropriate machinery. And if you consider the climate, topography, and other factors, you’ll realize that you need more time to complete both of these crucial steps. That’s incredibly difficult to achieve,” he remarked.
It will be “a very, very big load” for the “many nations that were represented here today” to “assemble all of the equipment, get it all synced, get the Ukrainian military trained, et cetera,” he added. It’s possible, but I foresee some difficulty.